Latest Articles and Op-eds from the Office of Rep. Brad Miller

Opinion: Troops need financial protection

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:33:25 GMT

Americans respect our men and women in uniform and appreciate their many sacrifices.

The mortgage crisis crusader

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:14:48 GMT

I dialed into a press conference today held by U.S. Congressman Brad Miller, a Democrat from North Carolina.

Making Facebook Personal

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:02:59 GMT

Politicians on Facebook are often little more than caricatures.

Opinion: No regulators, no regulation

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:51:11 GMT

Reforming the financial system required new laws, but laws don't enforce themselves.

Editorial: The right help

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:10:57 GMT

That there was drinking water contamination until the 1980s at the Camp Lejeune Marine base in Onslow County on North Carolina's coast is not in dispute.

Opinion: Good for Columbia and Harvard

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:42:26 GMT

Now Donald Trump wants President Obama to release his college transcripts.

Foreclosure relief programs at risk

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:02:23 GMT

For the first two months of the year, there were 13,003 foreclosure filings in North Carolina, up 20 percent from the same period a year ago.

Congressman Brad Miller talks politics

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:56:34 GMT

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, the fifth-term Democrat who defeated political newcomer Bill Randall in last November's election to continue serving the 13th Congressional District, paid one of his first visits of the new term to Rockingham County Monday.

Camp Lejeune water pamphlet comes under fire

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:59:35 GMT

WASHINGTON Congressional investigators will meet with Navy officials as soon as next week to pressure the military to reconsider a public relations booklet about historic water contamination at Camp Lejeune that they say is misleading.

In their fight with banks over mortgage losses, investors get on borrowers' side

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:52:22 GMT

The fight between big banks and investors who lost a fortune on mortgage-backed securities is shifting from private litigation to the public arena.

A mortgage nightmare's happy ending

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 15:27:04 GMT

TWO and a half years ago, Robert and Amy Ahleman, a construction contractor and a financial services employee, were mired in a mortgage nightmare. After missing just one loan payment on their modest, well-kept bungalow in Bensalem, Pa., the couple began receiving notices from their lender. Default fees and eviction threats followed.

Opinion: Unequal lesson for Social Security

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:01:49 GMT

The coming debate over Social Security may well be a preview of U.S. politics in the 21st century: 99 percent of Americans fighting over reduced benefits and increased taxes, while the richest 1 percent of them remain blissfully unaffected.

Debacle over drinking water deals a blow to CDC and EPA

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 15:20:35 GMT

When it comes to something as basic as ensuring that our drinking water doesn't poison our children, you'd think federal scientists and environmentalists would hustle to give the public the fullest and most reliable information as quickly as possible.

Opinion: Does Social Security Have WMD?

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:44:13 GMT

The PowerPoint released by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform ("The Deficit Commission"), said we should "Reform Social Security for its own sake, not for deficit reduction."

Rep. Brad Miller: 'There is no chance that Congress would pass more TARP'

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 22:32:57 GMT

I'd previously scheduled an interview with Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) to talk about the financial regulation bill.

Editorial: Danger - Pollution, politics can make a deadly mixture

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:16:34 GMT

Brad Miller wants to know what went wrong with the water at Camp Lejeune. We're glad he's asking. Maybe a congressman can get answers that the public hasn't been able to find.

In this play, one role is enough

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:09:28 GMT

MEET Brad Miller, a Democratic representative from North Carolina who was elected to Congress in 2002, talks straight and understands how big banks can put consumers at peril.

For spy agencies, accountability is a must

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:37:32 GMT

Miller Letter to the Editor: The July 19-21 "Top Secret America" series correctly described the explosive growth of U.S. intelligence operations and the lack of oversight of the agencies.

N.C. Democrats defend health overhaul

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:05:06 GMT

The Triangle's three Democratic congressmen said Friday that they were not expecting a political backlash against the recently enacted health care law in the fall elections.

Plan for bank regulators stirs debate

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:02:27 GMT

As the U.S. Senate takes up a sweeping financial industry regulation bill in the coming weeks, expect some of the fiercest fighting to focus on a proposal to create a new federal consumer watchdog.

Miller sets deadline to get the facts on Lejeune water pollution

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:52:29 GMT

WASHINGTON Congressional investigators late Tuesday requested detailed documents from U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and a private contractor involved in the testing and cleanup of contaminated water at the Marines' Camp Lejeune.

Opinion: Side with consumers, Congress

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:24:56 GMT

Senate negotiations on financial reform legislation apparently treat consumer protection as "nice to have." Predatory consumer financial practices were at the heart of the financial crisis and remain a burden on any economic recovery.

Opinion: UnHAMPered

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:34:14 GMT

The Obama plan, by contrast, has misunderstood the calculus faced by homeowners facing foreclosure. An underwater homeowner has little incentive to save their home from foreclosure, even if the monthly payment is reduced. Mortgage modifications that reduce the principal are far more successful than modifications that reduce the interest rate. A homeowner with equity to protect will find a way to pay the mortgage. In contrast, for underwater homeowners a mortgage payment is just expensive rent.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller stumps for health care reform

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:57:41 GMT

Lydia Tolar, a single mom from Cary with two small children, is a breast cancer survivor.

Bill Will Restore Congress' Powers in Era After Bush

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:55:40 GMT

The recent revelation that former Vice President Dick Cheney unilaterally decided to keep Congress in the dark about a CIA program targeting al-Qaida members for assassination comes as no surprise.

Opinion: Measure would end abusive lending practices

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:53:07 GMT

The current patchwork system of consumer financial protection is broken. It has too many holes and does not work. It is time for a complete overhaul.

Miller targets banks as cop for Frank

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:50:10 GMT

Barney Frank has found in Brad Miller something of a deputy cop to make new financial regulations as strong as possible.

Miller on energy, health care, pace of reform

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:48:44 GMT

Washington Watch: Monday, July 20, 2009

Miller on energy, health care, pace of reform
By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

One might think these would be halcyon days, at least politically, for Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat who represents parts of Guilford and Rockingham counties in Congress.

A member of his party is in the White House, Democrats control the House and Senate, and one of his signature issues — financial services regulation — is on the political front-burner.

But don't expect any glowing reviews of political progress in Washington from Miller.

"I'm frustrated," Miller said Monday as he lent his voice to a clean-energy event on N.C. State's campus. Officials from the university and Duke Energy touted efforts to build a "smart" utility grid and homes that could generate their own power and monitor appliances for wasted electricity.

That's just the kind of thing an energy bill that just passed the House would encourage. It awaits Senate action.

For Miller, the waiting is the hardest part on a whole lot of fronts.

"I'm frustrated with how hard it is to get things through," Miller said. "I'm frustrated with how much influence, how much power, some of the industries that should be completely discredited still have."

He said that feeling is most acute when it comes to financial services, where he has been pushing consumer protection measures and tighter regulations on the financial markets. The U.S. economy, he said, is still feeling the fallout from problems in those industries. "Other than the credit card bill, we haven't seen much that's gotten all the way through and been signed," he said.

So what did he expect?

"I had hoped for more of a hundred days kind of public support; that given where the economy was, given how much how had gone wrong, that there would be a strong force behind some pretty fundamental reform," Miller said. "Certainly, getting consumer protection through is a knife fight."

ON THE ISSUES

Watch asked Miller about three issues that are hot items in Congress right now:

On the energy bill: The Raleigh Democrat said you can make the case for the bill even if you discount any notion of climate change.

"Even without that, we're going to run out of the stuff. We're going to run out of the cheap abundant fuel," Miller said. "We need to be developing it and we need to move it into commercial use."

Worth noting: The energy bill has passed the House but is awaiting action in the Senate, where Miller and Congressman David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said Monday they expected to see changes.

On financial services regulation: Miller says the idea of an overall consumer protection regulation for the mortgage and banking sector is making progress, despite pushback from the banking industry. He said the new agency should take pieces of powers now in the hands of separate regulators and consolidate them.

"(It's) really not a lot of new powers, but just taking powers and giving them to someone whose principal job it will be to protect consumers," Miller said. "Giving those powers to someone who will actually use those powers will be an enormous change."

On health care: Miller said he isn't directly involved in shaping that bill — financial regulation is enough to keep him busy. But he hopes whatever is finally produced will require insurers offer a basic level of coverage to everyone who buys health insurance.

"A standard benefits package really would provide a common understanding of what health insurance pays for and what it doesn't. So you don't figure out what kind of health insurance you've really got only when somebody in your family really gets sick. That would be a huge help over the system we've got now," Miller said.

"It's not just comparison shop. It's so you don't spend two days in voicemail hell if your doctor tells you need treatment trying to get your health insurance to pay for it," Miller said.

SPEAKING OF HEALTH CARE

Columns in this space over the past couple months have discussed health-care reform and particularly Sen. Kay Hagan's role on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, says she is happy with the version of the bill her committee produced. Meanwhile, the House is producing its own health care bills.

Local Republicans don't think much of those efforts.

Sen. Richard Burr had this to say about the bill that passed Hagan's committee:

"Not only does the bill that was passed out of the HELP committee today fall 34 million Americans short of full coverage, it is unsustainable financially," the Winston-Salem Republican said during a news conference. "And it actually will penalize Americans that have insurance today that they are happy with and doctors they want to go to, that will affect them in the future on the cost of their health care and possibly on who their provider of choice might be. We are headed in the wrong direction."

Meanwhile, Rep. Virginia Foxx is unhappy with the House version of the health-care bill, or at least the process used to create it.

"Americans' health care is much too important for Congress to pass legislation in a blind rush or under the cloak of secrecy," Foxx, a Winston-Salem Republican, said in a news release. "I promise that I will not support any legislation that the American people have not had an opportunity to review and weigh in on. "I also promise that under no circumstances will I vote for a bill that does not specifically forbid taxpayer-funded abortion or that mandates insurance coverage of abortion. Taxpayer-funded abortion is a profound offense to the conscience of millions and millions of Americans, and such policies have no place in a health care reform bill."

US does about-face on Camp Lejeune's tap water

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:10:06 GMT

Nearly 12 years ago, a federal report told Marines and their families that adults faced little or no increased cancer risk from drinking and bathing in chemical-tainted water at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune.

Opinion: No clarion call from Republicans

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:06:17 GMT

An explanation for the financial crisis that exculpates the financial industry and Republicans requires an acrobatic imagination. But blaming liberals is conservatives' core competency.

Opinion: Mortgage Relief

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:04:49 GMT

The economic fallout from the foreclosure crisis has barely begun.

Lawmakers set new mortgage bankruptcy bill

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:01:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation designed to stem foreclosures by allowing bankruptcy judges to erase some mortgage debt will be introduced by Congressional Democrats on Tuesday, and hopes are high that it will pass after a similar plan failed last year.

Editorial: Help for homeowners

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:22:57 GMT

Bankruptcy judges can restructure the mortgages of troubled businesses. They also can restructure mortgages on vacation homes.

Opinion: The World is Flat...and Crooked

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:36:55 GMT

Daily Kos & Talking Points Memo: December 19, 2008

The World is Flat...and Crooked
By Rep. Brad Miller

The punditocracy is gravely concerned about business ethics in America.

Bernard Madoff's "alleged Ponzi scheme was only slightly less outrageous than the 'legal' scheme that Wall Street was running, fueled by cheap credit, low standards and high greed," Thomas Friedman wrote Tuesday in the New York Times. "The Madoff affair is the cherry on top of a national breakdown in financial propriety, regulations and common sense. Which is why we don't just need a financial bailout; we need an ethical bailout."

"In all that's been said in recent days about the latest proposals to rescue the financial system, two words have been conspicuously absent," Steve Pearstein, a business columnist for the Washington Post, wrote in September. The words were "We're sorry." "What responsible, honorable people do is apologize for their mistakes, promise that it won't happen again and vow that they'll make it up to us once the crisis has passed," Pearlstein said. "But in the past year, we've not heard any of that from the titans of Wall Street."

And Pearlstein was in high dudgeon last week over Wall Street executives' continued lack of contrition. On Tuesday, Pearlstein wrote that instead of acknowledging mistakes, Wall Street executives insist that they are innocent victims of freakish, unforeseeable events "to explain why their company or their industry is suddenly in the soup," an argument that the economics blog Calculated Risk calls "Hoocoodanode."

"What capsized the economy was not a perfect storm," Pearlstein wrote, "but a widespread failure of business leadership--a failure that is only compounded when executives refuse to take responsibility for their misjudgments and apologize." Pearlstein wrote on Thursday that Wall Street executives' "leadership failure was a big part of how we got into this mess, and it continues with their stubborn refusal to take responsibility, apologize and ask for a chance to make things right."

I suggested a little repentance was in order more than a year ago, before all of Wall Street landed "in the soup," when the subprime meltdown was just causing millions of middle-class families to lose their homes to foreclosure. I thought that was reason enough:

The financial industry was engaged in a fierce public relations battle then to present the borrowers as unsympathetic, as speculators, or people who bought far more house than they could afford. Friedman repeated, uncritically, the story of a lender giving "a worker who makes only $14,000 a year a nothing-down and nothing-to-pay-for-two-years mortgage to buy a $750,000 home." Michael Lewis, in an otherwise useful and engaging article about Wall Street's securitization of subprime mortgages, repeated the same story with added details that the borrower was "a Mexican strawberry picker...with no English."

Like Reagan's "welfare queen," the story of the Mexican strawberry picker has a political point: subprime borrowers are not victims worthy of our sympathy, and subprime lenders and the Wall Street firms that bought the mortgages were therefore not villains. Even if true (the story of the welfare queen was wildly hyperbolic at best), the story of the Mexican strawberry picker presents no more accurate a picture of subprime mortgage lending than the story of the welfare queen presented of poverty in America.

I've written in the blogosphere before about the causes of the subprime mess. Almost three quarters of subprime mortgages were refinances, not mortgages to purchase a home. And well more than half of subprime mortgages during the frenzy from 2004 to 2006 were to borrowers who qualified for prime mortgages. Most of the subprime borrowers were middle class families that had a rainy day--illness, unemployment, divorce--and needed to borrow money against their home. The problem was the mortgages, not the borrowers: the mortgages stripped borrowers of the equity in their homes with unconscionable upfront costs, and trapped homeowners in a cycle of repeated borrowing.

Lenders often boasted in their offering documents that the subprime mortgages they were selling had subprime terms, but many of the borrowers qualified for better. Purchasers of the mortgages apparently never asked whether that meant that the borrowers had been cheated. And they never asked the next obvious question: if you cheated the borrowers, how do I know you won't cheat me? Instead, purchasers saw tidy profitability in prime borrowers in subprime mortgages.

Wall Street firms relied to their grief on rating agencies to tell them what they were buying. Middle class homeowners relied on mortgage brokers to tell them what they were signing, also to their grief.

So Steve Pearlstein is still waiting to hear "we're sorry" for the devastation that the securitization of subprime mortgages caused to Wall Street companies and hedge fund investors. And I'm still waiting to hear "we're sorry" for the devastation that subprime mortgages caused middle class homeowners.

Lawmakers focus on foreclosures

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:21:14 GMT

WASHINGTON As the nation settles into recession, two members of Congress pledged Tuesday to make the rising rate of foreclosures their top priority in January.

Fuming over formaldehyde

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:19:30 GMT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to act for at least a year on warnings that trailers housing refugees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde, according to a House subcommittee report released Monday.

Miller's bill demands less secrecy on national security

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:18:11 GMT

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Brad Miller wants the Department of Justice to come out of the dark and embrace the sunlight.

Editorial: That Troubled Terrorism List

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:13:40 GMT

A half-billion-dollar emergency program to repair the nation's main and deeply flawed terrorist watch list is "on the brink of collapse," according to a Congressional investigation.

Anti-terror agency defends computer system

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:16:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The National Counterterrorism Center is disputing charges that the computer system that compiles information on terrorists and suspected terrorists from government agencies is ineffective and hindering its ability to track terrorists.

Flaws Found In Watch List For Terrorists

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:07:19 GMT

The government's main terrorist-watch-list system is hobbled by technology challenges, and the $500 million program designed to upgrade it is on the verge of collapse, according to a preliminary congressional investigation.

Interview: Brad Miller explains his legislation to help people facing foreclosure

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:24:52 GMT

Congressman Brad Miller, who represents North Carolina's 13th District, has said he is probably "the leading critic in Congress of the mortgage lending industry."

Interview: Rep. Brad Miller on Foreclosure Forbearance

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:59:25 GMT

I caught up with Rep. Brad Miller, who—along with a handful of other Democrats—is urging the mortgage industry to delay certain foreclosures until the FHA's "Help for Homeowners" gets going.

House Democrat Calls For New "contempt Of Congress" Prosecutor

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:04:43 GMT

Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) has introduced legislation calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to handle criminal contempt of Congress charges when Justice will not cooperate.

Miller fumes about FEMA, formaldehyde

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:00:39 GMT

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller has accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of hiding and manipulating science on the harmful effects of a chemical used in trailers after Hurricane Katrina.

Miller offers best way out of mortgage mess

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:14:14 GMT

Policy-makers rode to the rescue of the troubled housing market this month.

Opinion: In contempt fight, Congress has options

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:11:29 GMT

Disputes over information sought in congressional investigations are hardly new.

Fix Federal Bill

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:08:15 GMT

N.C. predatory lending law is a model -- for a reason

Borrowers' breathing room

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:31:54 GMT

Raleigh attorney Jerry Hartzell, on the opposite page a few days ago, underlined the importance of an effort by U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh to allow bankruptcy judges to do again what they could do for nearly 20 years, from 1976 to 1993, namely reduce home mortgage payments.

Housing Credit Crisis

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:05:25 GMT

Sunday, Economists disagree vehemently about how to rescue the financial markets from the current credit crisis.

Editorial: Still after predators

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:29:43 GMT

Brad Miller of Raleigh and Mel Watt of Charlotte have been the biggest champions in the U.S. House of putting a stop to predatory mortgage lending, an issue never more important.

Miller stands firm and alone

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:27:08 GMT

North Carolina congressman Brad Miller chose to stand alone last week on a nonbinding House resolution that defines the Ottoman-Turkish killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide. Good for him.

House mulls aid plan

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:51:35 GMT

As Congress weighs remedies for a worsening mortgage crisis, a House panel plans to examine possible relief for struggling homeowners through bankruptcy law changes.

Moody's: Subprime servicers modify only 1% of loans

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:46:08 GMT

Legislation that would allow bankruptcy courts to modify the terms of a homeowner's mortgage loan could save 600,000 homes from foreclosure, the bill's sponsor claims.

Loan bill gets work: N.C. predatory lending law is heavy influence

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:54:26 GMT

Congress is expected to begin work this fall on a national law targeting predatory lending that is based in large part on a North Carolina law.

Congress takes up Mortgages

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:00:11 GMT

WASHINGTON -- Congress returned from vacation with a series of proposals that could reconfigure the mortgage market, suggesting lawmakers are in a mood to make substantial changes in the wake of the summer's subprime mess.

Miller; Mortgage legislation on his agenda

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:43:26 GMT

Not long after Congress reconvenes on Sept. 4, Rep. Brad Miller says he will introduce legislation to regulate the predatory practices of some mortgage lenders.

Miller takes stand on Sudan

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:29:46 GMT

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller met Monday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations.

Fighting for the Right to the Rules

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:40:49 GMT

The Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress are fighting over who will have the most influence over writing rules on health and safety issues.

Miller makes self at home in House

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:54:38 GMT

News & Observer: July 15, 2007

Miller makes self at home in House
Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Brad Miller wants to soothe hearts and fight for people, and he figures that -- for now, at least -- the U.S. House of Representatives is the place to do it.

When Miller decided three weeks ago to forgo a shot at Sen. Elizabeth Dole's seat in 2008, he said that family ambivalence drove his decision.

But Miller, a third-term Democrat from Raleigh, also said he'll seek a fourth term in the House, telling reporters repeatedly, "I have a lot to say grace over."

Like most newer members of Congress, Miller hasn't had many big-name successes, and he's had the added challenge of being in the minority until this year.

So, after four years of trying to crack down on predatory lending, Miller hasn't yet saved thousands of homeowners from foreclosures with new, national consumer protections. This spring, he wasn't able to secure the half-million dollars Wake County wants for an environmental center.

But Miller is buoyed by the new Democratic majority and confident that, should he stick around the place, he'll build up successes.

"Although I think I probably could do more in the Senate, there's plenty I can do in the House and am doing right now," Miller said.

Miller, who served in the state legislature, came to Congress rooted in state-level politics. But he's keen on making a broader impact.

He helped create the historic preservation and community college caucuses in Congress.

In the Financial Services and Science committees, he has taken on national issues such as consumer financial protections and investigations of what he considers scientific fraud in the Bush administration.

He just earned a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, last week questioning administration officials about the months-long lags and mistakes in delivering millions of new passports.

"My work on consumer protection gives me the chance to comfort the afflicted. And my work on science and technology oversight gives me the chance to afflict the comfortable," Miller said.

Miller's future in the House will depend greatly on which party is in control. The difference with Democrats in charge, he said, is "day and night."

Now, when he introduces a bill, it isn't because he wants to send a message or strike a negotiating position. It's because he expects his bill to become law.

A busy year

His chief goal this year is enacting new consumer protections against predatory lending. Miller, along with Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte, has spent years negotiating with community activists, bankers and lenders on the legislation.

He would have been able to do more last year had then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay not put an end to the talks, said Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"Brad's a very thoughtful guy," Frank said. In another few terms, Frank said, Miller could have enough seniority to become the chairman of an important financial subcommittee or at least an influential member of the full committee.

In a few weeks, Miller hopes to introduce a bill that would overhaul predatory lending rules. He is working on another that would change bankruptcy law.

"It probably will be the most significant consumer legislation in more than a dozen years," Miller said. He said thousands of middle-class homeowners could be saved from foreclosures should the bills become law.

And Miller had heard privately that should the predatory lending bill pass the House, Senate Republicans would have tried to block it so he wouldn't have a success to run with against Dole. He thinks the bill has a better shot now.

This spring, Miller also took on the chairmanship of the Science Committee's new oversight panel. There, he has held hearings on an eclectic mix of issues: the destruction of a document at NASA, funding for an unproven defense aircraft and questions surrounding a Purdue University researcher's work on fusion.

"The Bush administration has not been held accountable by Congress for six years, and it shows," Miller said. "It shows in little corners of the federal government."

Miller also helped block funding for an executive rule by President Bush that Miller claims would have affected laws on the environment, civil rights, public health and other issues. The executive order would give political appointees greater control in writing regulations and prohibits the federal government from tackling problems unless it can show private institutions haven't addressed the problems.

Wish list for Wake

When it comes to money for local projects, Miller has been less successful recently.

Miller's office says he has secured more than $2 million in projects around his congressional district, including $400,000 for Raleigh's city bus system. Congress wound up eliminating nearly all such directed spending -- called earmarks -- from its appropriations bills.

Also among those lost earmarks was $100,000 for Wake County's new environmental education center last year. This year, the county has asked for, but not received, $500,000 for the center, said Jennifer Willis, who handles state and federal relations for Wake County.

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said the city each year has at least a half-dozen items on its wish list, and that fewer have come through than he would like.

"The city has worked with Miller's office on funding issues, and frankly there's not been a lot of return on that," Meeker said.

Raleigh's wish list for this year contains projects totaling nearly $40 million, for water projects, a senior center, emergency training and a historic preservation of the Pullen Park carousel.

Still, Meeker said he was glad that Miller wanted to stay in the House.

"Congress is a big institution with a lot of people, and it takes a while to build up seniority and get things done," Meeker said.

Tony Gurley, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said Miller has been receptive to requests for local help.

And, Gurley said, Miller would be more helpful in his current role than had he jumped in the Senate race.

"More than he would be if he lost to Sen. Dole," Gurley said.

Inspecting the Inspectors

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:17:06 GMT

A House subcommittee yesterday delved into long-standing tensions on how best to ensure the independence of the government's inspectors general so that they don't end up as lapdogs to their agencies, reluctant to prowl for waste, fraud and abuse.

Lawmakers argue over spending on aircraft that has yet to fly

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:20:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic lawmakers argued Tuesday that Congress should stop spending money on an aircraft that's never become airborne over two decades of research and testing.

Federal mortgage reform unlikely in 2007

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:27:22 GMT

WASHINGTON — Homeowners unable to pay monthly mortgage bills and facing foreclosure shouldn't count on help from Washington this year.

Subpanel Chairman Eyes Legislation to Limit OIRA Influence Over Agencies

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:09:39 GMT

Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), who chairs the House Science and Technology subcommittee on investigations and oversight, is considering legislation to limit the impact of a controversial executive order that critics say gives the White House unprecedented ability to shape policy at regulatory agencies throughout the federal government.

Never again: Brad Miller on Darfur

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:12:56 GMT

Thursday night, Congressman Brad Miller was at Pullen Baptist Church in Raleigh talking about Darfur.

Congress urged to act on predatory lending

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:05:49 GMT

Some officials use North Carolina's law as a model during hearing about practices

Democrats in Congress kick oversight into overdrive

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:45:52 GMT

WASHINGTON — One day last week, the entire Federal Communications Commission was summoned for the first time in three years before a House committee, where its members were grilled for five hours and told to expect to be "frequent guests."

Opinion: Making sense of the subprime slide

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:43:16 GMT

The recent spike in defaults in subprime mortgages has caused a hiccup in the markets, but it is catastrophic for families now facing the loss of their home to foreclosure.

Congress Primed to Act on Risky Home Loans

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:33:17 GMT

WASHINGTON -- Congress appears increasingly likely to pursue new protections for consumers seeking risky home loans, as defaults surge among borrowers and concerns rise over alleged abuses in the sector.

Miller to lead House science oversight panel

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:30:39 GMT

Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) was selected this morning to head a new oversight panel within the House Science and Technology Committee that could delve deeply into matters of scientific censorship.

Democrats' Risky Strategy: Trumpeting the Wealth Gap

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:42:38 GMT

Many Democratic politicians, shrugging off lessons of recent political history, see this as the year when the widening gap between the rich and the rest of America will help win them votes.

Opinion: Pursue all potential stem cell therapies

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:44:56 GMT

Modern medicine is moving rapidly toward the development of more effective treatments for a host of diseases.

Federal Law on predatory lending may be on its way

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:42:08 GMT

North Carolina passed landmark legislation in 1999 barring unethical lending practices that take advantage of low-income people, often minorities.

Do homeowners need protection from lenders?

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:38:24 GMT

Under federal law, people shopping for home mortgage loans are largely responsible for protecting themselves.

Latest Articles and Op-eds from the Office of Rep. Brad Miller

Opinion: Troops need financial protection

The mortgage crisis crusader

Making Facebook Personal

Opinion: No regulators, no regulation

Editorial: The right help

Opinion: Good for Columbia and Harvard

Foreclosure relief programs at risk

Congressman Brad Miller talks politics

Camp Lejeune water pamphlet comes under fire

In their fight with banks over mortgage losses, investors get on borrowers' side

A mortgage nightmare's happy ending

Opinion: Unequal lesson for Social Security

Debacle over drinking water deals a blow to CDC and EPA

Opinion: Does Social Security Have WMD?

Rep. Brad Miller: 'There is no chance that Congress would pass more TARP'

Editorial: Danger - Pollution, politics can make a deadly mixture

In this play, one role is enough

For spy agencies, accountability is a must

N.C. Democrats defend health overhaul

Plan for bank regulators stirs debate

Miller sets deadline to get the facts on Lejeune water pollution

Opinion: Side with consumers, Congress

Opinion: UnHAMPered

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller stumps for health care reform

Bill Will Restore Congress' Powers in Era After Bush

Opinion: Measure would end abusive lending practices

Miller targets banks as cop for Frank

Miller on energy, health care, pace of reform

US does about-face on Camp Lejeune's tap water

Opinion: No clarion call from Republicans

Opinion: Mortgage Relief

Lawmakers set new mortgage bankruptcy bill

Editorial: Help for homeowners

Opinion: The World is Flat...and Crooked

Lawmakers focus on foreclosures

Fuming over formaldehyde

Miller's bill demands less secrecy on national security

Editorial: That Troubled Terrorism List

Anti-terror agency defends computer system

Flaws Found In Watch List For Terrorists

Interview: Brad Miller explains his legislation to help people facing foreclosure

Interview: Rep. Brad Miller on Foreclosure Forbearance

House Democrat Calls For New "contempt Of Congress" Prosecutor

Miller fumes about FEMA, formaldehyde

Miller offers best way out of mortgage mess

Opinion: In contempt fight, Congre﻿ss has options

Fix Federal Bill

﻿﻿Borrowers' breathing room

﻿﻿Housing Credit Crisis

Editorial: Still after predators

﻿﻿Miller stands firm and alone

House mulls aid plan

Moody's: Subprime servicers modify only 1% of loans

﻿Loan bill gets work: N.C. predatory lending law is heavy influence

Congress takes up Mortgages

Miller; Mortgage legislation on his agenda

﻿﻿Miller takes stand on Sudan

Fighting for the Right to the Rules

Miller makes self at home in House

﻿Inspecting the Inspectors

Lawmakers argue over spending on aircraft that has yet to fly

Federal mortgage reform unlikely in 2007

﻿﻿Subpanel Chairman Eyes Legislation to Limit OIRA Influence Over Agencies

Never again: Brad Miller on Darfur

Congress urged to act on predatory lending

Democrats in Congress kick oversight into overdrive

Opinion: Making sense of the subprime slide

Congress Primed to Act on Risky Home Loans

Miller to lead House science oversight panel

Democrats' Risky Strategy: Trumpeting the Wealth Gap

Opinion: Pursue all potential stem cell therapies

Federal Law on predatory lending may be on its way

Do homeowners need protection from lenders?

Opinion: In contempt fight, Congress has options

Borrowers' breathing room

Housing Credit Crisis

Miller stands firm and alone

Loan bill gets work: N.C. predatory lending law is heavy influence

Miller takes stand on Sudan

Inspecting the Inspectors

Subpanel Chairman Eyes Legislation to Limit OIRA Influence Over Agencies